Pakistan's cyber war more about propaganda than data theft

There has been an escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan and the same can be witnessed on the cyberspace as well. In fact it was the hackers from Pakistan who launched a major offensive on Indian websites in the aftermath of the September 29 surgical strikes.

Now an analysis of those sites attacked by Pakistan shows that the intention was to show their processes on the cyberspace. Hackers from Pakistan have only defaced 7,000 Indian sites, but have not been able to gain control or steal data, investigators have said.

However, in a counter-offensive, Indian hackers managed to take control of at least 100 websites in Pakistan. OneIndia had reported that after taking control over these sites, the hackers from Pakistan had even offered bitcoins to have these sites released.

Show of might:

The intention by the hackers from Pakistan was to show their might over the cyber space. They pick random government sites which have lower levels of security and deface them. While defacing the websites, they post a message. This is more about propaganda.

The message that the hackers from Pakistan are trying to send across is that they are capable of launching and winning a full fledged cyber war with India. The Pakistan hacking group has at least 3,000 people working full time.

From laying honey traps to defacing websites, it is a busy unit. In fact they have been working overtime after the surgical strikes and are trying to send a message to India.

Among the various activities that the hackers carry out, one includes propaganda. At first they had sent out messages on social media sites calling the surgical strikes as false. They also tried to gain access to the WhatsApp application of army personnel.

However, due to enhanced security and guidelines following the Pathankot attack, this operation was an unsuccessful one.

Investigators say that no data has been compromised. They have just defaced the websites with an intention of sending a message and creating a false sense of fear that a cyber war is underway.

The Indian hackers, on the other hand, responded swiftly and took control over at least 100 websites. The Indian hackers say that the offer of bitcoins to release the websites was rejected. Even if we decide to release these websites in exchange for bitcoins, the same would go to charity, they say.